The South African government bodies tasked with investigating and prosecuting apartheid-era political crimes must face closer public scrutiny and take stronger action to fast-track long-overdue justice for victims’ families and survivors, writes Katarzyna Zdunczyk.
As South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy, victims’ families and survivors of apartheid-era gross human rights violations continue to advocate for long-delayed justice and meaningful reparations.
Since 2003, the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) has been working towards criminal accountability for these crimes as part of our Unfinished Business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Programme. We have joined forces with other civil society organisations under the umbrella of the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice to hold the government accountable for implementing the TRC’s recommendations on reparations.
Notwithstanding its limited mandate, the TRC’s key purpose was to uncover the truth about apartheid-era human rights abuses. The commission enabled victims to place their experiences on record and had the power to grant amnesty, under certain conditions, to perpetrators of political crimes.
While the TRC led some perpetrators to come forward and reveal the truth about their crimes, many high- and mid-level perpetrators chose not to appear before the TRC. Additionally, the Executive’s apparent decision not to investigate or prosecute apartheid-era crimes that the TRC handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and the fact that the NPA succumbed to this political pressure, resulted in only a handful of post-TRC prosecutions.
In 2023 the NPA-appointed independent expert Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza found that the NPA failed in its mandate to bring justice to victims of apartheid-era crimes. He recommended that an independent commission of inquiry be established to investigate the extent of, and rationale behind, the political interference between 2003 and 2017, which has been a long-standing demand by civil society and victims’ families.
A Renewed Hope for Truth and Accountability
The perseverance of victims’ families, survivors, pro-bono lawyers and civil society has catalysed significant developments, including the historic reopening of Ahmed Timol’s inquest in 2017. Judge Mothle’s verdict found that Timol was tortured and murdered, challenging the initial apartheid court’s ruling of suicide. Encouraged by this judgment, other families approached the FHR for support. More inquests were reopened, shedding light on the deaths of activists such as Neil Aggett, Hoosen Haffejee and Imam Haron. Following these developments, the NPA and the minister of justice announced the reopening of more inquests.
However, recent progress with prosecutions has been limited. Indictments have been issued in three cases – the murders of Nokuthula Simelane, Caiphus Nyoka and the COSAS 4 – but these trials have stalled due to repeated delays. We are aware of only one conviction, and two additional cases where the NPA plans to issue indictments.
On 17 September 2024, the TRC Unit within the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, along with the national director of public prosecutions, presented a report to the Parliamentary Justice Portfolio Committee regarding progress on implementing the TRC’s recommendations, specifically in relation to reparations and prosecutions. It has been the fifth NPA report on progress since a “new approach” to TRC-related prosecutions was announced by the NPA and the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigations (DPCI) in 2021. The approach was a result of sustained advocacy efforts by civil society.
Facing Continued Challenges
In partnership with pro-bono law firms, the FHR supports victims’ families and survivors in 23 cases and monitors the progress of investigations and prosecutions. While some progress by the NPA and the DPCI should be recognised, the NPA’s presentation in September 2024 highlighted system and processes improvements but lacked evidence of real advances in prosecutions and investigations. Examples from the FHR’s work demonstrate this gap between administrative progress and meaningful justice.
There is a noticeable lack of urgency from both the NPA and the DPCI in advancing the TRC cases, leaving progress to chance rather than proactive effort. In August 2023, the NPA and the families of the murdered Cradock 4 activists agreed that a third inquest into their deaths should be reopened. At that time, the prospect of prosecution had faded due to the death of the sole suspect against whom a prima facie criminal case could have been made. Despite the Cradock 4 families filing a court application in July 2021, seeking a prosecutorial decision, the NPA failed to act promptly to ensure a timely indictment.
On 4 January 2024, the minister of justice announced that the Cradock 4 inquest would be reopened. By March 2023, the NPA and the families’ legal representatives agreed that the inquest would take place in September 2024. While the NPA was responsible for ensuring a presiding judge is appointed and notifying witnesses needing legal representation about the agreed inquest dates, the NPA only informed the implicated military and police officers in June 2024, giving them just two months to secure counsel and prepare. The inquest was postponed to June 2025.
In mid-2023, the NPA informed survivors of the 1993 Highgate Massacre that it intended to open an inquest into the matter. While this news was initially met with hope and relief, the process of appointing a presiding judge and securing dates for the inquest has dragged on for nearly 18 months, with no resolution in sight. A similar delay occurred in the Rick Turner murder case, where little progress has been reported regarding inquest arrangements.
Perhaps the most troubling example is the PEBCO 3 case, which has been languishing on the NPA’s docket since the TRC’s conclusion. As early as the NPA’s 2010/11 annual report, “specific additional guidance” was reportedly given to investigators to fast-track the matter. Since 2019, the FHR and the families’ legal team have consistently engaged with the NPA, and in November 2023 provided the NPA with an analysis of the evidence to expedite the prosecutorial decision. There has been no further significant communication from the NPA.
Ways to Improve Investigations and Prosecutions
In its submission to the Ntsebeza inquiry, the FHR recommended ways to improve TRC cases’ investigations and prosecutions. Specifically, we urged the NPA to adopt best practices from earlier reopened inquests to streamline future ones. We noted that while the NPA ensured legal representation in the Timol and Aggett inquests, this standard was not followed in the Haffejee, Haron or Cradock 4 cases. The Cradock 4 inquest was delayed by nine months due to the NPA’s failure to secure timely legal representation for key individuals.
The effective investigation and prosecution of complex cases like those related to the TRC require systemic changes at both institutional and policy levels, such as strengthening the capacity of the NPA and the DPCI TRC components and amending the Criminal Procedure Act to grant victims the right to participate in criminal proceedings. Yet, there are immediate steps that can be taken to improve the monitoring of progress and ensure greater accountability to relevant constituencies and the general public.
These immediate measures should include more inclusive reporting to the Justice Portfolio Committee. Currently, the NPA alone reports on the progress of TRC-related cases, but this should be broadened to include other key stakeholders such as the DPCI. Additionally, civil society and representatives of victims’ families and survivors should brief the Committee, presenting shadow reports each time the NPA provides an update.
Beyond the Committee’s oversight, the NPA should release the list of 126 TRC cases reported to be under investigation. At the FHR, we believe that disclosing general information – such as case names and stages of proceedings – would not compromise the investigations, especially as these cases originated from the public TRC process. Considering the suppression of TRC cases between 2003 and 2017, victims’ families, survivors and the broader public have a right to scrutinise the progress made by the enforcement agencies.

Katarzyna Zdunczyk
Katarzyna Zdunczyk is a Programme Manager in the Unfinished Business of the TRC Programme at the Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa.